A FORMER Birkdale High teaching assistant began a 16-month jail sentence yesterday after admitting to having sex with two pupils.

Hina Patel invited the 15-year-old boys to her Sandilands Grove home in Hightown in March and had sex with both on the same day.

One boy sat eating and watching DVDs as his friend was invited upstairs to her bedroom.

After an hour in her room he left while his school friend stayed the night.

Martin Decker, prosecuting, told the court rumours started circulating after one of the boys told another teenager about the one-night stand.

Staff at the school then picked up on the rumours.

As revealed by the Visiter on Friday, Patel, 37, seduced one of the students when he was alone in a class for disruptive pupils by passing him her phone number.

After four days of texting the messages became increasingly flirtatious and the boy gave her number to his friend.

Patrick Williamson, defending, said Patel’s behaviour was “out of character.” He said Patel had suffered from low self-esteem after her divorce in 2007 and had got into a large amount of debt.

A statement read out in court on behalf of Patel said: “I have never been very good on my own as I think too much and feel sad, afraid and lonely.”

Patel described her work at the school as “difficult and stressful.”

But Judge John Roberts told the court only a custodial sentence could be justified.

Birkdale High head teacher Gary Loveridge welcomed the sentence, saying it would deter others from betraying positions of trust.

IN Friday’s Southport Visiter, we reported that one of the two boys involved in the case against former Birkdale High teaching assistant Hina Patel had sold his story to a national newspaper.

The family has asked us to point out the boy was approached by the national title in the first instance, which then led to a £2,000 sum being offered. They sought to make no financial gain until they were approached by the newspaper. The Visiter is happy to make this clear.